Git pull with rebase and autoStash can silently overwrite fixes with stale code

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A specific combination of two common Git configuration options — pull.rebase and rebase.autoStash — can cause a git pull to silently merge three-day-old working-tree content with freshly fetched upstream fixes. The autoStash feature stashes a dirty working tree before rebasing, then re-applies it on top of the newly pulled files, which can blend stale local edits into the updated code without any warning. The operation exits with code zero and produces no error output, making the corruption invisible to the developer. When the stale edit and the upstream fix touch different lines, Git sees no conflict and applies both changes cleanly, resulting in a file whose timestamp reflects the current moment but whose content is partially outdated. The issue is particularly dangerous in automated pipelines that rely on exit codes, timestamps, or parse checks to validate deployments, as all such gates can pass while rolled-back code reaches production.

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